Connie Harrington

Connie Harrington hasn’t lived in the state long, but she has already made a big impact on southeastern Colorado residents. In February 2009, two years after moving to Colorado Springs, Harrington got a job working for Peak Vista Community Health Center on a new mobile care unit purchased with Recovery Act funds. The Recovery Act awarded $1.3 million to Peak Vista to hire fourteen additional staff and purchase a state-of-the art vehicle for administering medical and dental care to low-income individuals.

Harrington said she specifically looked for the position onboard a mobile care clinic because she had worked on one in Memphis and loved the experience. “I love going to different places and working with kids,” she said. “There’s nothing else I want to do. I wouldn’t like to work anywhere else.”

Because of the Recovery Act, Harrington and Peak Vista have been able to provide medical and dental treatment to over 3,600 individuals throughout the region who otherwise wouldn’t have access to these services. “These are people who don’t have a primary health care provider.”

Harrington is enthusiastic about the direct impact the Recovery Act has made on her life as well as benefit to residents of the community who can’t afford primary care.

“The fact that we are employed and taking care of these kids is all because of the Recovery Act.”